Using simulation to assign police patrol zones

Abstract

The defining of police patrol zones is a complex problem that can be handled by computer simulation. Typical criteria for establishing zone boundaries are average response time and amount of time avail able for actual patrol duties. Typical constraints include the number of patrol cars and a desired minimum response time. In our application, the criterion was to maximize the amount of time avail able for patrol duties (i.e., repressive patrol); the constraints were the current average time to respond to a call and a limit on the number of patrol cars. We developed a multiple linear regres sion model to forecast calls and a simulator to pre dict performance. The results were reasonable and indicated that, possibly, a small increase in patrol time could be achieved by redefining zone boundaries and that the work load in the zones could be made considerably more uniform.

The simulation, however, was undertaken primarily as a training exercise and did not represent the com plete problem. As a result of factors outside of the scope of the work reported here, the findings were not applied. Even so, it can be argued that the study produced benefits that justified its cost.